When it was originally used by fur traders, Métis, and the Indigenous peoples, the plateau was called Montagne a la Bosse, which is French for "The Mountain of the Bump or Knob".

The retreating ice also left small shallow lakes, knobs, and moraines dotted all over Moose Mountain and the surrounding prairies.

After the glacier retreated these large buried blocks of ice melted leaving a depression that geologists call a kettle.

[5]Indigenous people have lived in the area of southern Saskatchewan for about 11,000 years[6] and were originally nomadic hunters and gatherers.

The area provided plenty of big game such as buffalo, deer, and elk as well as a variety of berries such as saskatoons, blueberries, and raspberries and edible plants like wild rice, turnips, and onions.

[7] The Medicine Wheel is located on the plateau's highest peak and is under jurisdiction of the Pheasant Rump Nations Band.

It was mainly a provisions trail transporting pemmican from buffalo hunting grounds near Wood Mountain back to Port Ellice.

[10] Since there are no major waterways near Moose Mountain and since beaver are not native to the area (two breeding pairs were introduced in 1923 and thrived),[11] it did not play a significant role in the fur trade.

Compared to the surrounding landscape, the upland, which appears oval in shape when viewed from above, is quite hilly and heavily wooded.

Moose Mountain at 830 metres (2,720 ft) above sea level is the highest peak and is located on the south side of the plateau near the middle.

[13] The only other named summit in the region is Lost Horse Hill with a much lower elevation than most of the plateau at just over 660 metres (2,170 ft).

Moose Mountain Creek[17] originates in the north-west corner of the plateau and heads south, then south-east into the Souris River.

Moose Mountain is dotted with hundreds of small lakes and sloughs, most of which are closed basin, meaning they have no regular out-flow.

Unlike the surrounding prairie, most of Moose Mountain is wooded with aspen, white birch, balsam poplar, and green ash.

The animals that are found there include moose, white-tailed deer, snowshoe hare, white-tailed jack rabbit, eastern cottontail, coyote, red fox, skunk, weasel, bobcat, lynx, cougar, raccoon, black bear, beaver, and muskrat.

[23] As a result, in the early days of settlement, settlers relied upon the forests of Moose Mountain for firewood, building materials, and hunting.

The main industries now in the Moose Mountain Upland include tourism, agriculture, oil, and gravel quarries.

[25] The development of the park and the building of the Chalet between 1931 and 1933 were part of an effort by the Saskatchewan Government to get people working during the Great Depression.

Red Barn Market is located 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) north of Kenosee Lake near, the intersection of Highways 9 and 48.

At the south end of Moose Mountain Lake by the dam, there's Lost Horse Hills Heritage Park.

[32] In 1974 Saskairie,[33] a Nature Conservancy of Canada property, was established on the southern slope of Moose Mountain Upland.

It is three-quarters of a section located along the southern border of Moose Mountain Provincial Park and along the eastern shore of Kippan Lake,[34] about 2 miles west from the south-western most corner of White Bear Indian reserve.